Integration of green design and manufacturing for sustainability in undergraduate engineering curriculum

Abstract

Green design and manufacturing promises reduction in materials, energy use, disposal fees, and reduced pollution. Products should be designed keeping in mind the aspects of disassembly and recycling. Engineering curriculum has to catch up with the needs of society in general for sustainability considerations. There is no universal agreement on the particular goals to be pursued by green design. Some believe that green design and pollution prevention should be sole criteria; others focus on recycling to save raw materials, third group wants to direct all attention to global warming and environmental problem. Sometimes pollution prevention may be socially desirable but economically unwise. The most acceptable objective of green design and sustainable manufacturing can be stated clearly to develop more energy efficient devices that also reduce GHG & toxic gas emissions. The end-of-life considerations including recycling and reuse should be integrated in engineering curriculum. We can define green mechanical design as the selection of materials, processes, and geometry that satisfies specified and implied green functional requirements while remaining within the confines of unavoidable limitations. A curriculum revision and development of two separate courses on Green Design and Sustainable Manufacturing are being proposed. The course outlines are presented and they need to be integrated in undergraduate engineering curriculum. Engineers need an understanding of whole systems, life cycle, and end of life utility of the product and they have been emphasized in the course development.